Independence

Kate has decided that she wants to eat by herself. If she could talk, I think our meals would start with, "Leave me alone, Mom. I can do this all by myself . . . I'll just watch Meg and do what she does."

Meals are messy. They take forever. Food is everywhere . . . the high chair, on Kate, on the window, on the table. But Kate is learning to eat with utensils and feed herself . . . one heaping spoonful at a time.

Meg has decided that she wants to dress herself . . . not only the physical act of dressing, but she also wants to be an integral part in selecting what she's going to wear.

Some days are better that others.

It started with jammies . . . she wanted to pick them out, so for months we've been wearing horribly mis-matched pajamas to bed. Then she wanted to pick her clothes . . . and I have had to learn how to 'cope' with that. (There are still times mommy gets to pick out the clothing . . . and Meg just has to deal with it.) Most recently, Meg wants to actually put the clothes on herself -- and for that I am excited. It takes forever for her to dress, but it's so worth it. I dream of a day in the near future when she can just run to her room and come back all dressed and ready for the day. How lovely that will be.

Today, Meg proudly wore her Halloween shirt to preschool . . . with the neck hole so stretched out, it looked like a boat-neck Tshirt. When I asked, "Did you have trouble getting your shirt on over your head?" Meg replied, "Yeah. I haded (had-ed) to put my arms through the neck hole. It didn't work. I got all twisted, so I just took it off and started over."

My children are becoming more and more independent every day. I am one proud mommy.